Toon Tower Part 1: Curiosity
by Elcee the Porcupine
Summary: In an old, strange tower in another realm beyond imagination, Steven Universe learns what it's like to truly fear the unknown, as well as to marvel at the mysterious. Most of all, he is not alone. In this first installment of a three-part series, a strange land invites beings from different universes to seize the day, and discover something fantastic.
1. Chapter 1: Wonder

**Toon Tower**

**Part 1: Curiosity**

Chapter 1: Wonder

There is now a portal in the 32nd floor of the tower. This portal is a circular anomaly that spins slowly in a spiral motion, sort of like a black hole. A black and white hole, to be precise, as pure white and black streaks paint its spiral in a hypnotic fashion. What's truly strange about this portal is that is has no edges and no third axis. The white and black streaks seem to blend into reality, and its lack of a third dimension means that the portal turns practically invisible when viewed to the side, and you can never tell if the center is too close or too far. The portal is extremely difficult to perceive, let alone comprehend.

What is this strange portal's function? It allows the direct transportation from the tower to entirely different universes that share a link to it. What allows this portal to be used effectively by living beings in and out comes in the form of two single, yet very significant words: curiosity and desire. Wonder and want.

Voices can now be heard from within this one portal. Those are the voices of the inhabitants of the universe that this tower is currently communicating with, specifically the state of Delmarva, US, in its own Earth. The voices sound baffled; questioning, speculating, and mocking the portal's presence in their world. A smaller voice loudly describes the portal as 'awesome' and 'cool', wishing to know its purpose, a perfect demonstration of the necessary sense of curiosity for the portal to work. The confused voices turn into frantic shouts as the portal reacts to the small voice's body, preparing to pull it into the tower. The small voice does not even get a chance to scream as he is dragged in, disappearing out of his universe and into the tower.

In the tower enters Steven Universe.

He falls to the floor, somewhat dazed from the impact, unaware of what just happened to him at first. Then, his eyes open, and sees the run-down room he just fell into, damaged due to years of abandonment. The weak LED lights flickered in a vain attempt to illuminate the battered large room, a regular door in the right corner half-opened to barely reveal the hall beyond it. Steven stammers as he stares at the room's terrible state, finding it to be a grim place. His face begins to sweat as he scrambles to his feet and tries to get back into the portal.

The power goes out. The portal disappears. You see, even portals require an electrical source of energy. Steven is now stuck in an old dark tower without the Crystal Gems to help him. His heart races and his breathing is more rapid. He sweats more profusely as he is consumed by dread.

"W-w-well..." he struggles to say to himself, "I guess I'll just...gotta find my own way out...huh?"

Steven crawls to the floor trying to feel his way in the darkness. The room looks even grimmer than before. The thought that something could lurk in the shadows and the Gems aren't there by his side added to his overwhelming dread as he frantically crawls through the floor trying to find something. Luckily, at a corner he finds a strong flashlight just conveniently left in the room and coincidentally possessing working batteries, and his fear temporarily eases. He picks it up and laughs a little as he proceeds to try to turn it on. Then the door leading to the hall slowly creaks wide open, and Steven is still as he stands right in front of it. Dirty windows to the right dimly illuminate the hall, allowing Steven to see it more clearly.

He sees a figure just at the end of the hallway.

He grits his teeth not to scream, but Steven's heart now beats faster and he continues to breathe heavily through his nose as he stares at the silhouetted thing standing at the end of the hall, its bright eyes staring back at him, fixated, and still. Lingering seconds pass between stares as Steven begins to calm down. He notices that the creature doesn't seem all that threating to him. Its eyes did not express hostility so much as they expressed fear, and he can subtly hear the fearful breathing from it. It almost looks scared too.

Steven finally decides to move. He sighs and steps forward. Suddenly, the creature hunches over, its pupils shrink, and sprints away behind the wall to the left of the hall.

"Wait!" he cries out, but the creature is now long past gone. Indeed, he's not alone.

Steven sighs deeply again and turns on the flashlight. It brightly illuminates the worn wallpaper and the dusty floor, highlighting the state of disrepair that matches that of the entire tower. With finger and thumb on his chin, he slowly makes his way out of the room.

"I guess I better go find that thing," he spoke to himself, trying to break the dreadful silence with the sound of his own voice.

Walking slowly down the hall he looks to his right and sees the filthy windows, so unclean he can't actually see what lies outside. He can only guess that it is daytime, and possibly cloudy. He looks to his left and sees an old wooden door. He's tempted to open it, but that is not his main concern at the moment. He can faintly hear some wind from behind the door, and he could see some light from underneath it. He ignores it and continues to walk.

At the end of the hall, Steven turns left. He travels yet another hall, the same to the one he just passed. So alike to the one behind him, that Steven has to look back to make sure he didn't simply imagine having left the room. He gulps as he continued to see the same sights as before. He turns left. Another hall, the same as before. But this time, right in front of him, he sees a deep, dark corner housing strange elevator doors. Steven decides to ignore it, already unsettled by everything else.

He turns left, same as the second hall.

This can't be right, Steven thinks. He's just traveled left in three directions, yet he isn't travelling in a circle. He isn't ending up where he started, yet the halls remain seemingly unchanged each time he turns left. Disturbed, Steven stops. He sweats as he ponders if he should turn around, back to where he came, back to the room. Perhaps the portal may return and take him back to Beach City, leaving the dreaded tower and never wanting to remember it again. But he isn't sure if the portal was ever going to return. At least not until he finds out what is going on. He has to understand where he is and what is happening if he wants to go home, he figures. He assures himself that he can defend himself if something happens, with or without the Gems. With a deep sigh, he presses on.

He doesn't remember how long he is walking. He stops paying attention to his surroundings because of the near-endless repetition. He had practically memorized the pattern of the seemingly never-ending path: hall, hall, elevator, and hall; hall, hall, elevator, and hall, and so on. He is no longer afraid or disturbed, but bored from the unchanging environment, his heart no longer beating as quickly. He could just take a nap right there, if Steven didn't find it to be unwise.

But around the 16th floor, Steven finally notices something different in the left wall. Something that breaks the pattern at last. He stops dead in his tracks, surprised at the change. His boredom fades as he shines his flashlight at a partly-open door that leads to a dark room, the only light coming from yet another door at the end of the room, but still too dark. Steven pushes the creaky door and steps in.

Inside, many old papers float through the breeze of the door opening. The dark room is nothing but papers and books, every one of them blank, as Steven finds. He walks inside the room shines his flashlight through the papers on the floor and the pile of books, figuring them to be perfect hiding places for the creature he saw. As he reaches the middle of the room, Steven suddenly notices that his footsteps sound different. He points his flashlight down and kicks away the old papers obscuring the floor, and finds himself waking on _another_ door fixed to the floor. Steven quickly steps back in surprise, then points his flashlight upwards to find _yet another _door fixed to the ceiling. Two doors to the walls, two doors to the floor and ceiling. Four doors in each room. Doors everywhere.

Steven tries to leave, but notices a piece of yellowish paper on the floor standing out from the others. It is not damaged or broken or even dusty like everything else, and most of all, it wasn't blank. Puzzled, Steven walks over to it and picks it up. He gasps and his eyes widen. It is a map of the tower.

Steven excitedly reads it, his fear subsiding, and soon realizes how truly amazing and mysterious the tower really is. All those doors to left of the halls lead to various rooms, most of them adjacent to each other through three more doors; one in the wall leading to the room behind it, the other two leading to rooms above and beneath. Steven finds the idea positively fun, but he can't quite make out what exactly the rooms themselves are for. All the rooms clearly have a function, but he can't make out the interiors, as if someone had scribbled all over them. The only rooms that aren't scribbled is the Portal Room where Steven entered the tower, and the room where he is now, labeled the Study Room. Steven soon regrets not having opened those doors.

Steven is also compelled to jump in relief as the map finally shows him the secret behind the endless path. The tower doesn't have stairs, rather, long slopes that circulate around the rooms. The hall that Steven walked through the entire time was a slope designed at an angle that whoever walks across it doesn't realize they are going down; the windows and doors align across the slope to give it the impression that the hall is a horizontal line. Steven stares at the map in both amazement and unsettledness at the mind game the tower's design had played on him, but he still doesn't know what the strange elevator is for. He doesn't see it anywhere on the map.

As he looks down at the map further, he notices that the tower from the 8th floor down looks relatively normal, almost like a large lobby to an apartment building or a hotel, like he saw on commercials. It has a kitchen, a dining hall, restrooms, and an actual entrance. At least, it looked normal, as apartment buildings typically don't have four towering support beams holding up the rooms. Like a hotel, the second to eight floors contain guest rooms, far more normal than the map showed him.

Finally, the bottom of the paper read faintly: _Toon Tower Resort Magic Map_.

"Oh, that's cool!"

A voice on his shoulder. The fear is back.

He swiftly swings his flashlight at the source of the voice.

They both scream.

Steven tumbles to the floor in terror as the creature attempts to scurry away. As Steven coughs the dust and crawls to his fallen flashlight, his terrified mind starts to recall what he just saw. That _thing_ was _right_ on his face. It was _watching_ him read. It was _right next to him_. He grabs the flashlight and points it to the fleeing creature. That thing…

The light shines on the creature fully. Steven can only stare in confusion at the giant blue cat before him. Aside from his feline head being larger than his body in proportion, the cat had clearly humanoid anatomy; he is wearing a tan sweater and grey pants, hunched over in two legs, and has a balloon-like tail on his rear. While Steven is simply uncomfortable, the cat stares in fear at the light with his pupils dilated, and quiet squeaks emit from his mouth. Relaxing, Steven slowly gets up, but the cat starts to bolt behind the door to the hall. Steven shouts.

"H-hey! Don't be scared! I'm-I'm just as scared as you are! I'm scared too...Let me see you. Maybe we can help each other." Steven calmly holds out his hand towards the scared cat. Still hunching over, never taking his eyes off Steven, the cat slowly steps back into the room. Seeing Steven's friendlier stance, he breathes through his nose and starts to stand up straight. His ears perk upward. His eyebrows begin to relax, though they soon curl into a look of bafflement. He tilts his large head.

Then he opens his mouth.

"…You… speak English?! What are even the odds, man?"


	2. Chapter 2: Companionship

Chapter 2: Companionship

The loudness in his voice is almost grating to Steven, and downright startling to hear it come from a big cat. He puts his hand down and shouts again.

"H-hey! You can t-talk?" Steven responds. "_And_ you speak English too?"

"Oh, Pffffffft," mocks the cat. "I get it, I get it. I," he gestures himself, "wear clothes, I stand on two legs, and the fact that I can _talk_ is what bothers you?"

Steven starts to sweat in both fear and embarrassment.

"You're blue too!" Steven blurts out honestly, earning a look of disdain on Gumball. "…I-I didn't mean to offend you, I just… I've never seen anything like you before…" The cat lingers on his disdainful look for two seconds, before immediately chuckling to himself. Steven is confused.

"I was just joking, dude."

Steven is left speechless, and hopelessly uncomfortable. He thinks to himself, how is he supposed to respond? What could he possibly say? Is he supposed to laugh? He can't bring himself to even smile, something that he once thought would never occur until now. The chuckling cat notices that Steven isn't laughing, and he himself is doing a poor attempt at making light of his uncomfortable situation. He slowly stops laughing, leaving the two of them in an awkward silence. The cat clears his throat.

"I'm… Gumball Watterson," he breaks the silence. "Seriously though, _what_ are you? I've never seen anything like you before either, and I've seen a lot."

"Oh!" Steven finally responds to the question, and decides to joke around as well. He puts his wrists on his side and puffs up his chest, trying to look heroic, and states confidently "I'm Steven Universe, and I'm a Crystal Gem!" Gumball, however, is perplexed.

"…Oookay…" he says after another short period of silence, "I have no idea what the heck you're talking about, but okay…" Steven slumps in disappointment.

It's a baffling occurrence that neither of them manage to make each other laugh, despite being able to do so to other people in their world so many times. When someone comes from a place far beyond what's familiar to the recipient, any attempts at coping humor towards them are rendered useless, as the recipient is less amused and more scared of them to the point of crippling fear. Steven and Gumball learn this the hard way.

It is now at this point that Steven decides they need to fix the mess that they're both in.

"Gumball! …right?" Steven begins to ask. "Do you have any idea what happened to us?" Gumball turns around and thinks for a few moments before responding.

"Well… uh… I guess…" he turns to Steven. "Did you come from a swirly thing?" Steven tilts his head and recalls how he came.

"Y-yeah, I came from a swirly thing!"

"You too?" Gumball hums to himself, trying to make sense of their dilemma the best he can. "That swirly thing is called a portal, or something. I don't remember anything else about it, but it's not gonna show up again 'til the lights come back. Turns out it's powered by… electricity?" Gumball starts looking around on the floor, not thinking about borrowing Steven's flashlight. "I read it in a paper here, but now I can't find it."

Curiously, Steven reaches to the map again, and takes a closer look at its backside. Indeed it contains critical information about the portals. Funny, he doesn't remember ever seeing that information when he first picked up the paper. Gumball sees the paper in Steven's hands and runs over to him. He once again reads from Steven's shoulder.

"_Welcome, dear Toon visitor! You have been transported to this marvelous resort by state-of-the-art, electrical multiversal magic known as PORTALS! But what are PORTALS? PORTALS are circular anomalies […]_"

They read about the definition of portals. They read about the portal's functions. They read about the electric energy portals require. They read about the multiversal qualities of the portals. They read about the portals' connections to different universes.

They realize they are so disturbed with each other because they come from different universes. And along with it, all the different science and magic; the different physics, biology, and most of all, different likenesses.

They are silent and nervous. They slowly turn their heads to each other, stepping back slightly. They are tense and repulsed as they inspect their extraterrestrial skin, hair, and every other part of each other's bodies. One thing is certain; their consciousness are similar, as they mirror each other's movements as they inspect. Both of them have the simultaneous urge to poke each other, just to know what different textures from different realities are like. They slowly reach each other; right hand to left hand and vice versa. But they pull back, at the same time. They try again; right hand to left hand. They manage to touch their fingertips. They immediately pull back and inspect their own fingertips for any abnormalities, recalling how weird it felt. They both let out a deep sigh, deciding that neither of them are toxic.

After another period of silence, Steven starts to question again. This time, loud enough for Gumball to be taken aback. "But then why were we brought here? Why did the portals just open? Why were we taken here?"

"…S-sheesh, man. I don't know," Gumball shrugs casually, "I'm just a cat."

Steven hums, "Well, whatever reason we were brought here, we should probably find out how we can get home first."

Gumball laughs half-mockingly, "_First_, Steven? Look, I'll be honest, I don't think fate works the same way here as it does on my world. I am NOT stickin' around unlike you!" He starts to sound more agitated, "There is no reason, for me to be here! All I want is to get home, and that's final!"

It is now Steven's turn to be taken aback. He only met him for a few minutes and even he believes this attitude is somewhat unexpected of him, due to his judge of character. He isn't like this most of the time, he believes, he's just stressed. Steven starts to ponder for several minutes, studying the map further in order to look for something, humming all the while. Gumball frowns and impatiently taps the floor with his foot. As he studies the map, Steven notices another room underneath the lobby –a basement–.

"Okay! I've got a plan! See this?" he shows the map to Gumball, pointing towards the lobby, "We just have to go here and power up this thing! Then the portals will come back and we can go home!"

Gumball stares at the map, and his eyes light up for the first time. He smiles sincerely, and goofily, without any hint of mockery, and he squeaks joyfully as he scans the map. Steven looks warmly at Gumball's joyous expression. Steven doesn't want to admit it, but his _curiosity_ slowly replaced his fear, and he wishes to know more secrets about this strange tower, especially upon seeing the map. But Gumball doesn't feel the same; he's stuck in an unfamiliar place and he desperately wants to get out. Steven decides that going home was the best for him, and the adventure could wait. He's gonna do it for his new friend.

"Well, then what are we waiting for?!" Gumball exclaims and throws the map at Steven, "Let's go!"

They shake hands with confidence, no longer agitated by the extraterrestrial textures of their hands. It is a fact that companionship is necessary in stressful and solitary environments; a half-Gem boy and a talking blue cat are no exception. More comfortable with each other, they hurriedly set off. They just needed to go further down, power up the generator, and go back up to the Portal Room, as the map specifies. How hard could it be?

They exit the room through the door to the path, and continue to quickly travel down the hall to reach the lobby. Steven observes Gumball's remarkable speed, and soon finds himself struggling to keep up with him, his cries to wait up unheard on feline ears. Maybe that's how he reached the 16th floor so quickly.

Steven turns left, and finds Gumball standing in front of the creepy elevator corner. Gumball can hardly believe he hasn't noticed the elevator in all the other floors until now; he moved so quickly he didn't see the corner. Steven walks towards Gumball at the corner. He looks at him, and the light on his eyes is gone, along with his joy. Gumball is afraid once again.

"Let's… not take the elevator," he stutters.

Steven tries to offer a rational explanation. "It probably doesn't work, anyway."

"No, man. It…" Gumball shudders. "It gives me the creeps. Like, even more than anything else here. It's just bad."

Steven stares at the elevator suspiciously, until he too feels a sense of dread towards it. With the rest of the tower's damaged state, Steven believes the elevator to be completely unsafe to use, and he mentally beats himself up for even thinking about going near it. Gumball, however, is more bothered by it for different reasons, mainly the fear of paranormal happenings within the shaft. He's been attacked by malevolent ghosts too many times, he figures.

"Okay," Steven explains, "let's just ignore it and move on, alright? We're not gonna use it."

Gumball turns to him. He closes his eyes and he swallows. "Okay."

They press on further into the hall. Gumball decides that he feels safer by Steven's side, so he slows down his pace to allow Steven to catch up. As touched on before, companion is necessary in stressful environments. They silently walk throughout the unchanging halls, getting closer and closer to the lobby. Steven decides to discover a little more about Gumball.

"So, you're a talking cat, what do you want to do -?"

"I'm going home," says Gumball firmly, not even letting Steven finish. With his single encounter with the elevator, Gumball is stressful again. He can only think about powering up the portals again and that's it.

"No I meant… do you have like, a mission or something, like me? I'm going to defend the universe!"

Gumball stares at him. "A mission?" he hesitates for a moment. "...W-well, same as you, I guess. Trying to find the secrets of the universe…" he pauses. "Well it's not really a mission, it just happens. I just do my own thing. I actually live a pretty normal life, when this stuff doesn't find me. I go to school, I play, I date, I get chased by T. Rexes…"

As Gumball continues to list his daily activities, Steven alternates between excitement and utter bafflement. He let the weirdness slide however, as Gumball continues to describe his countless misadventures, admiring his strange and wonderful life. He can't help but compliment. "Wow, your life sounds so amazing!"

Surprised, Gumball stops in his tracks and faces Steven. He opens his mouth to say something, but no words come out. He just chuckles, flattered and delighted. This guy is seriously starting to make his day. Just hanging out with him makes things better already. He reminds him of Darwin, somewhat.

They finally reach the very end of the hall, a single door standing right in front of them, presumably leading to one of the one of the floors of the lobby, along with the guest rooms. They both pause, look at each other, and Steven steps up to open it. As they step outside the door and into the lobby, both of them suddenly feel like they've walked into a different building altogether. They step into one of the long balconies with dusty red carpets, passing by some guest rooms with golden numbers engraved in the darker wooden doors, tilted and broken to reveal the whitened empty room. The remaining essence of luxury is washed away by disrepair, but Steven and Gumball's attention focused on the empty main lobby and leaned against the steel handrails.

They stare at the vast rubble of what remains of the lobby, illuminated by a skylight at the topmost of the tower. Hundreds of huge, destroyed concrete pieces, including what remains of the support beams that held up the series of strange rooms above. The entire broken state leaves the whole lobby and the guest rooms in a post-apocalyptic feel, punctuated by the gray, cloudy sky that illuminates it. Steven has a nauseous tingle in his stomach as he questions to himself just how sturdy the room and its door on the floor was when he stood above it. Disconcerted, they both began to make their way to the basement treading alongside the rest of the balcony, passing by several rooms.

"What about you, then?" Gumball brings him out of his thoughts as walk. "What's YOUR world like? Are you a superhero or something?"

Steven has no idea what to say. After hearing the near-incomprehensible "adventures" that Gumball faces daily, it's difficult to compete. Gumball has practically seen everything, what could he say that he doesn't already somewhat know? Regardless, he begins to explain his life story from the beginning. Something he would quickly regret.

"U-uh WHAT? You're your own MOM?!" Gumball shouts madly as they travel down the first stairs they've seen since entering the tower. Had it not for him grabbing the railings as he reeled back, he would have fallen the entire flight of stairs.

"It's a-it's… complicated!" Steven stammers embarrassingly before he continues calmly, "Anyway, now it's just me and the Crystal Gems. It's pretty simple; me, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl go on missions, we do really cool stuff, we beat monsters, and collect their gems to keep them safe (we don't really kill the monsters)." They continued to descend the flight of stairs, passing and going down the floors. Steven tells Gumball the details of his own adventures with the Crystal Gems, as well as the happenings in Beach City

Gumball also becomes fascinated with Steven's heroics and thrills. Unfortunately he can detect within himself a small, yet significant hint of envy for Steven's strength and bravery against almost all odds, and the fact that he lives in a place so cozy and quiet compared to the daily chaos that is Elmore. But he tries to push those thoughts aside, and instead compliments him. He wants to be nicer to strangers this time around, especially when they're not from Elmore. "Man, your life sounds so…" Gumball struggles to find the words. "…epic!"

"Ah, ha, ha!" flattered, Steven dons his usual happy chuckle. "Thank you!"

They make their way down the stairs into the main lobby. They decide not to explore it for the time being, but Steven glances at the shattered front entrance and the gray light outside. He could exit the building and find out what's out there, but he needs to help his friend, who's stressed out enough already. He moves forward before Gumball could get impatient again. They descend the next flight of stairs.

The stairs leading to the basement are pitch-black, far darker than the study room. Not even Steven's flashlight can illuminate the darkness fully; all they see is stairs and a blackened void. Steven gulps, and Gumball, in his somewhat paranoid state, half expects a ghostly face to appear and devour them. What they find instead is yet another door at the end. A metal one with a lock that's been picked with a quill that lies on the floor. He's getting pretty darn sick of doors.

Steven pushes the unlocked door open, and stare at some sort of concrete cave. The cave that is the basement. And right at the end, was the generator.


	3. Chapter 3: Chasm

**Author's Note: **

**Oh, my goodness. Sorry for the wait. In addition to being busy with college stuff, this chapter was a freaking challenge to write. There's so much action going on in here, and the change of pace is highly evident. What's more, I actually had to write an outline for this because I kept loosing track on what was supposed to happen next and where the characters were, and I _still_ managed to get writer's block. This chapter just plain had no right to be this long. I really considered splitting it, but everything that went on was simply too important to cut. Hopefully this won't turn into one of those fics that only update once a month.**

**The good news is, I finally managed to send an invite request to AO3. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this painstaking effort of a chapter. It's quite a doozy. **

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Chasm<p>

Gumball stares at the generator, his one ticket to returning to Elmore back to his home, while Steven curiously shines the basement's walls. As they both walk towards the generator, Steven observes the strange symbols drawn on the walls; drawings of various bizarre creatures, some with multiple limbs, so as to illustrate movement. He wonders if these drawings have any meaning to them, and who could have drawn them. Gumball loudly taps the metal box, whose clanks bring Steven's attention.

"Hey!" Gumball calls out irritatingly as he stands in front of the generator's door. "Can you point your flashlight _this_ way, please?"

Steven shines his flashlight at the generator, and Gumball finds the door opening the inner mechanism of the generator. He pulls hard and manages to open it slightly. A yellow warning sign of high voltage that is imprinted to the door fades out of sight as Gumball opens the door wider.

"Wait," Steven asks. "Should we even be doing this? This doesn't look safe, we should go and get help…"

Gumball turns to him with a look of annoyance. "We're _alone_, Steven," Gumball states. "There IS no help. We're the only ones around to fix this! We're just gonna have to _try_ to do this ourselves."

"But," Steven sighs. "What about those things, then?" Steven flicks his wrist to illuminate the drawings, turning the light away from the generator. Gumball growls at having his light taken away. He couldn't care less about what was in the walls at the moment. He turns towards Steven in anger, only giving the walls a quick glance.

"Maybe they left, then." Gumball says sternly. "There's no one here. _Light, please_."

Steven disappointingly shines the flashlight back at the generator. Gumball peeks inside without saying anything else, and Steven looks away from him silently concerned: the drawings look too new compared to the rest of the tower, so someone obviously had been in the basement recently. He knows that, somehow, they aren't alone.

Gumball stares at the inside wiring of the silent generator, unsure if there is something actually wrong. He hums and licks his lips, and reaches towards the loose wiring, hoping to do something. Steven turns to him just in time to realize that –in trademark fashion– Gumball is about to do something stupid.

"Whoa, please be careful!" Steven warns him. Gumball just smiles.

"Don't worry," Gumball states in confidence. "I'll be just fine."

He grabs the wiring and tugs on it. Tons of electric circuits pump voltage into his arm and the rest of his body. He squeals loudly in pain as he lights up like a lightbulb and convulses erratically. Steven covers his ears and stares in horror at what is happening to Gumball, and swears he could see his skeleton. The lights in the basement start to flicker.

The power comes back. The portals appear.

Gumball lets go of the wiring and falls stiff to the floor, his fur and clothes blackened and singed. Steven stares at Gumball's unconscious body, shaking and breathing rapidly in shock as if he were electrocuted as well.

Then, Gumball happily sits up.

"Yeah!" he yells. "The power's back! Wooo!" He gets to his feet and starts to laugh and dance in joy, and grabs Steven's face. "Steven, the power's back! Yeah!"

Unfortunately, Steven is even more disturbed than before. Once Gumball lets go of his face and continues to dance, Steven feels as if he's talking to a corpse of his friend, and he feels his heart trying to tear out of his chest. He quickly swallows and holds his head with his palm, trying to think again.

"But…h-how…?" Steven struggles to ask. "How, uh… How are you not dead?"

"C'mon, I said I'd be fine!" Gumball laughs and bolts upstairs. "Now c'mon we're goin' home!"

Gumball disappears quickly, leaving Steven to try to recall what happened. Gumball's tampering must have kick started the machine and got it to work again, somehow. Steven is sure that the electric generators in his universe wouldn't work like that, even if magic were involved. The generator in this tower seems to work in some sort of abstract logic –cartoon logic, if you will. After several more seconds of heavy breathing, Steven gets over his shock and swallows again.

"H-hey, Gumball!" he shouts. "Wait for me!"

As Steven starts to run out of the room, he can hear a faint rattling sound from behind the generator.

Steven once again finds it hard to keep up with Gumball, not just because he keeps getting distracted by the newly-lit ruins of the tower (in what little it has of lights), but because Gumball is going even faster than before. By the time Steven exits the basement, Gumball already enters the hallways above the lobby. He runs upstairs as fast as he can, stopping at the top to catch his breath before running again. When he enters the hallways, he quickly realizes how difficult it is running up an inclination and almost finds himself out of breath again.

Gumball is also starting to get tired, and slows down his pace. Normally, he would give up and collapse on the floor, lamenting of how tired he is. Not this time, he decides. He is going home and that's final, _then_ he can complain about how tired he is. He starts to jog determinably, sweating and huffing through his mouth. In spite of the dryness in his mouth, he turns right and he starts to chant to himself: _I can do this, I can do this, I'm almost home, I can do this, I ca_—

He stops. Emerging from behind the wall at the right is a ferocious-looking animal, staring straight at him with ominous glowing eyes.

"…Can't do this."

He turns around and bolts down the hall, screaming in fear. In seconds, he turns left and passes by Steven. Confused, Steven runs ahead to find what Gumball had been so scared of. He turns right. At the end of the hall, the animal trots forward. The animal looks at him and chuffs, and Steven lets out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Lion!" Steven giggles as he goes to greet his beloved pet. "It's so good to see you!"

Just as Steven goes to hug him, a strange orange creature pops out of Lion's mane on his back.

"Hello!" it chirps.

"Wha-a…?!" Steven stops dead in his tracks, and his smile quickly twists into a look of complete befuddlement. What is _that_ on Lion's _back_? _A fish with legs_?

"So…" the fish asks sheepishly, "You… didn't happen to see a cat running by here, did you?"

"Uh…" Steven can't bring himself to answer. He simply points to Gumball's direction with his thumb.

"Okay! Thank you!" says the fish happily, and Lion proceeds to run past Steven straight to where Gumball went. Steven's eyes remain glued to the fish behind Lion's back as he runs down the hall and turns left. Even once he's out of sight, Steven practically forgets what he is doing as his mind tries to deduce what that thing was. Was that the friend that Gumball was talking about in his adventures? Was that who he called Darwin?

"Yo! Steven! You there?" A voice snaps Steven out of his uneasiness. He could recognize that voice anywhere. He beams and runs up the hall. He turns right.

"Amethyst!"

"Heyyyy!" she shouts from the end of the hall. "What's up, lil' man!"

Steven runs up to her. Amethyst whoops and extends her hand to high-five him. Their hands slap, and they proceed to greet and laugh at each other. Steven then looks to her for answers.

"What was going on there?" asks Steven. Amethyst knows what he is referring to.

"Aughhh," she huffs. "It's crazy. After the swirly thing showed up again, Lion went in first, so I got curious. When I got in, there was this giant fish. And it was… talking to Lion? Anyway, he got on Lion's back to… find someone, I think he said. Fish riding a cat." She scratches her butt cheek as Steven fails to respond. "Yeah it was… it was weird."

Steven turns around and looks where Lion and the strange fish, his curiosity emerging once more. He wonders if he should really meet these new beings, but he knows that he really wants to see more.

Amethyst sighs and rolls her eyes. "But now Pearl and Garnet can't enter, so they wanted me to fetch you," she crosses her arms and puffs. "Guess that means it's time to get back. This place stinks anyway, c'mon, go get Lion and let's go."

"Wait…" Steven says honestly. "Actually, um… Amethyst?"

Amethyst stops to listen to him curiously. "What?"

"I don't think I wanna leave just yet," he says. "I kinda just… wanna explore. I know this place doesn't look good, but I bet that I can really find some neat things here! During my time here, I got to see a lot of things, and I wanna find out more." Steven pauses and thinks. "But at the very least, I wanna say goodbye to these new people." He turns to Amethyst pleadingly. "Can I stay for a while longer?"

Amethyst raises her eyebrow. As far as she knows, Steven wasn't gone _that_ long ago. As usual, she shrugs it off. She simply concentrates on what Steven says about the place and starts to look around. She stares at the grimy window and squints. After pondering quite loudly, she begins to nod. She turns to him with a determined smile as she is also overcome with curiosity.

"I got a better idea," she says confidently. "Why don't we get the other Gems to come here? We can all go exploring together. Yeah, let's see if we can sway them for once! We'll show 'em how to have fun!"

Steven's eyes light up. The very thought of the Crystal Gems having fun with him in other worlds, something he's been dreaming about for a long time, is capable of erasing any negative feelings. He whoops and laughs, and shouts loud exclaims of "YAY!"

Amethyst chortles on her own and high-fives Steven again, and they both set out for the Portal Room to find the other Crystal Gems. The run up and turn right, unaware of the figures in that hall's elevator corner. They reel back and watch them run, and whisper to each other.

"It's okay, dudes, I don't think they noticed us."

"Man, that hair is just insane! Am I right, guys?"

"You two really should keep quiet."

"My, I simply can't wait to see all the strange little things in this quite peculiar building!"

Gumball lies on the hall collapsed face-first in a puddle of his own terrified sweat, panting heavily. _I'm so tired I'm so tired_, he repeats in a wheezing breath. Once Lion turns left to find Gumball, he stops approaching him and stands still at the end of the hall, so as to not scare him to death. Worried, Darwin dismounts Lion to run to Gumball himself, allowing Lion to wonder up the halls. Darwin kneels in front of his exhausted friend, and reaches a fin to pet his fur.

"Hey Gumball, are you okay?" he asks gently.

Gumball lets out a muffled "huh?" when he feels the fin in his head. That voice… it can't be. Gumball throws his head up, his face sweaty and his eyes somewhat bloodshot from exhaustion. Right under his nose, his best friend and brother watches him with a bubbly smile. Gumball screams happily. He jumps up in a burst of complete joy that erases any impurity left in his body.

"BUDDY!" he exclaims. Grinning, he throws himself into his brother's arms and holds his head tightly. Darwin instantly reciprocates. They stand there holding each other affectionately.

"Hahahaha, ohhhhhh!" Gumball murmurs softly. "I missed you so much, buddy! I thought I'd go crazy!"

"Just thought you might need some rescuing!" Darwin giggles. "And maybe a little bit of company!"

Gumball thinks about that last part for a moment. He actually _did_ have some company; he made a "sort" of a new friend and he enjoyed Steven's company. Did he betray Darwin? He assures himself that Steven is cool and all, but no one could ever replace Darwin, his dear brother. Gumball lets go of his embrace and grabs Darwin by the cheeks.

"Dude, let's get home."

"…Right." Darwin responds. Truthfully, he is still curious about the place and would like to go exploring, wanting to befriend aliens like he already did with that pink lion, in spite of how disturbed he is. But he'll respect his brother's wishes.

"Let's go!" Gumball announces. He starts running up the hall again as if he never lost energy, and Darwin isn't too far behind, running at the same pace. Just like old times. Gumball started thinking about Steven again. He would say goodbye to him, but he is in such a hurry to get out. Besides, they are heading the same way, so maybe he can—

He notices something in the corner of his eyes as he turns right one more time. He stops again abruptly, and Darwin barely avoids colliding with him. Before Darwin has a chance to ask what happened, both nervously turn towards the elevator corner. In the elevator corner stood a tall, slender blue bird, a small raccoon, a yeti, and a man with an oversized round head. In the corner, the light inexplicably glows red. The figures don't notice the brothers as the elevator finally opens its doors.

Darwin almost screams, but Gumball is quick to cover his mouth. For all his bravery in dealing with Lion, he ultimately can't bring himself to approach these kinds of animals. They both try to step away, until Gumball notices something far more disturbing.

"Wait, dude…!" Gumball begins to exclaim as the figures start making their way inside. "THE ELEVATOR! IF THEY TAKE IT THEY'RE DEAD!"

"OH MY GOSH!" Darwin shouts as both their fears take a whole new priority. "CREEPY ELEVATOR! CREEPY ELEVATOR!"

They dash towards the elevator as the doors begin to close, yelling all the way. From the gap of the door, the bird can see weird creatures sprinting right at them.

"What thh—?!"

"HEY!" Gumball grabs the sides of the elevator doors with his claws and opens them, shrinking his pupils, and baring his teeth. "DON'TTAKETHEELEVATOR!" he yells rapidly.

The elevator's occupants all recoil and scream in panic. The red light from the corner making Gumball look devilish does not help for them. They scramble to the furthest corners of the elevator, trying to get away from the demon cat and fish, who are currently inside the elevator mashing the button for holding the doors open and flailing their limbs.

"COME ON, GET OUT!" they shout, unaware that they are blocking the only exit. Lion sits in the hall, watching all the creatures thrash around in the elevator. He scratches his ear and occasionally glances at the direction of the Portal Room.

"C'mon, Pearl! Don't you wanna know where I am?"

"No, Steven. I just want you back here! I can't bear to imagine what sort of eldritch monstrosities beyond even a Gem's understanding are lurking in there!"

In the Portal Room, Steven talks to the other Crystal Gems from the other side of the portal. Amethyst has her arms crossed and huffs in annoyance.

Both are unaware of yet two more creatures sneaking behind them in the same room, the taller one glowing rather brightly. The taller creature fought the urge not to shapeshift in fear, while the smaller one tries to guide both of them towards the door. They walk slowly, the taller one not taking her eyes off Steven and Amethyst, while the smaller one reaches for the door. She opens it gently and steps outside the Room, signaling the taller one to follow her. She takes her gaze off Steven and Amethyst and tries to step outside.

"Come on, Pearl. It can't be _that_ hard!" Steven continues to persuade.

"Steven I just…" Pearl sighs. "I don't want to. I'm sorry."

Steven starts to pout. He looks at Amethyst, whose arms are crossed. Amethyst shrugs her shoulders. She's cool with leaving if it doesn't work out. Steven looks at the portal again and hums to himself.

Steven beams up again and starts to shout into the portal again. "Garnet, are you there?"

Some silence. "Yes, Steven," Garnet responds.

"Can _you_ come in? Pleeeeaaase? You just need to wonder where I am! Please come in Garnet!" Steven knew Garnet could not resist his pleas. He made sure his voice sounded as tiny as possible to really get to her. Garnet takes a few moments to respond.

"Alright, I'll try." she says, ignoring Pearl's subsequent protests.

Letting out a chuckle in relief, Amethyst glances at the door, but takes back when she sees a yellow glow behind it. In her experiences as a Crystal Gem, something that glows meant something important, or she is simply instinctively drawn to the glow. She remains silent for some time.

"Hey," she slowly announces as she steps into the door back into the hall. "I'm gonna go check out something. You guys don't mind right? Nah, you don't mind."

The other Crystal Gems don't hear her, and Steven continues to persuade the other Gems to get in. She exits the room and begins her silent pursuit, following the glow.

The scene in the elevator remains chaotic as Gumball and Darwin continue to hold the doors open. The occupants are significantly less panicked the more but still no less scared, practically at Gumball and Darwin's mercy. Gumball grows impatient.

"C'mon! Why aren't you getting out?" he demands. Darwin turns to him in realization.

"Dude, we're blocking the exit!" he says.

Gumball relaxes his posture, mentally smacking himself. "Oh," he says embarrassingly and turns their back on them trying to get out of their way, with Darwin following. "Okay. Alright, we'll just leave you guys to just exit calmly…"

The yeti finally decides to take action, and quickly but gently grabs Gumball by the collar of his sweater and tucks Darwin underneath his other arm, standing between the elevator and the building's corner. Gumball and Darwin freeze up and stare blankly with eyes wide open, Gumball lifting his knees up and tucking his arms on his chest. All the other figures proceed to quickly exit the elevator, panting heavily.

"A-a-alright, alright," the bird stammers, pointing to the two brothers. "W-what do we do with 'em?"

"Let's dissect them!" the raccoon hollers jokingly. Gumball and Darwin's pupils are non-existent at this point. The bird glares at the raccoon.

"C'mon, Mordecai! I was just kidding!" the raccoon says in his defense.

"Oh, no! Please don't harm the poor creatures, Skips!" begs the man. "Can't you see just how frightened they are?"

On cue, Gumball and Darwin begin to stare at Skips with bright puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, Pops is kinda right…" Rigby rubs his chin somewhat sarcastically then starts shouting. "Let's keep 'em as pets!"

"Rigby, shut up," Mordecai chastises. He turns to Skips. "Just let 'em go, alright? They're not that dangerous."

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to do anything." Skips drops the two brothers from his grasp, and they quickly stand to their feet, somewhat irritated. They do not really appreciate feeling threatened like that. What a bunch of idiots.

"Uh…" Mordecai tries to explain. "I think we… got off to bad start there…"

"It's alright, we just wanted you to get out of that evil elevator," Gumball says condescendingly, pointing towards the elevator currently closing its doors in a sinister manner. He begins to make his way towards the Portal Room. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have to get back to our _own_ worlds, thanks."

"You guys stay out of trouble now!" Darwin says in sincerity as he follows Gumball with a smile on his face. They inattentively pass by Lion, who watches them go. He returns his vision towards Mordecai and the others, who stare back in stoic confusion.

"Did we just get talked down to by kids?" Rigby remarks.

"Good thing Benson's not here," Mordecai jokes slightly. "Or, we're definitely not gonna hear the end of it," he turns to Lion indifferently. "Hey, man."

Headfirst and soundlessly, Garnet finally manages to get in the tower. Her head turns at various angles, her tryclopian vision scanning and studying the strange new sights, and observing a vast sea of new probabilities from just this one room.

"Weird," she remarks. "But I'll get used to it."

"There!" Steven giggles excitedly, happy to have Garnet with him as well. He turns towards the portal again. "Now you do it, Pearl!"

There is some silence, then, an audible sigh. "Alright, then. I'm coming in. I sure wonder what this portal leads to."

A foot en pointe emerges from the portal and touches the floor. The rest of the body follows, eyes covered by a single hand. The hand departs, and Pearl lets her eyes stare in slight befuddlement at the room in this unknown dimension, then at Garnet, then at Steven.

"Well…" Pearl tries to comment as she continues to stare. "I can't say I have ever seen anything like this before. It's… unique I suppose."

Steven smiles at her widely and happily, and Pearl can't help but smile back. Her smile soon fades as she notices something missing.

"Where's Amethyst?" she asks as her brow starts to furrow.

"Uh…" Steven says confusedly as he begins to look around frantically. "She was just here with me!"

"Ugh! Are you serious? Amethyst!" Pearl passes by Steven and angrily begins to walk towards the door. Steven nervously follows her, and Garnet sighs and moves with them. They exit the room.

"It's okay, Pearl! There's no rush!" Steven assures her.

"She could get herself into trouble," Pearl affirms as they walk down the hall. "I'm not taking any chances. We have to find her before something happens in this crazy place."

"There is no rush, Pearl," Garnet states, and they all pause. "Whatever happens, we'll deal with it as a team, but now we need to relax. None of us know this place, so we need to be as calm as possible."

Steven nods in approval, but Pearl stares at her in a bit of embarrassment. Garnet's statement didn't do much to ease her worries, but she's willing to do as she says. "…Right," Pearl responds, and they start to walk again. Pearl slows down her pace, letting Steven catch up. He smiles at her reassuringly, and Pearl smiles back, though still feeling unsure.

However, even more uneasy is the glowing creature. She and the smaller one are out of the Portal Room, but she still feels unsafe, still fighting the urge not to shape shift. Her eyes move rapidly and her mouth feels dry. She isn't used to being in such an alien place. She suspects she's beginning to get paranoid; she hears footsteps and from the hall in front of them. She stops, listening to her own breath and heartbeat. The smaller one turns to look at her.

"Penny, why are you stopping?" asks the smaller one, disturbed by the alien sights, yet there is no trembling in her straightforward voice. She did a surprisingly good job in maintaining composure.

"Do you hear that, Anais?" Penny asks disconcertedly, looking behind her. "The footsteps on both sides?"

Now that Penny mentions it, she also can hear the footsteps from both sides of the hall, confirming it wasn't Penny's paranoia. She doesn't act scared, but she feels it. Would the crippling thought of being ambushed and killed have something to do with the fact that she's a rabbit? No, she was certain it was the sheer unfamiliarity. Anais gulps. She stares at the hall in front of her, not daring to go forward, while Penny stares at the hall behind her. Both are rigid and waiting.

Then Anais's brothers emerge from behind the left wall. She stares in surprise and relief, and her brothers stare back.

"Sis?!" Gumball shouts at her.

"Darwin? Gumball?" she shouts back.

"What?" Penny turns around alerted upon hearing her lover's name.

"PENNY?!" Gumball yells even louder staring straight into her form. Gumball's surprised expression doesn't change, but Penny begins to smile in relief and affection upon seeing his face. All the feelings of fear are washed away, and her glow begins to blaze brightly in loving joy at him. Gumball tilts his head and smiles caringly, admiring his girlfriend. It was so good to see her again.

Soon, Darwin and Anais start to giggle. Gumball turns his attention towards them, and all three siblings proceed to tackle each other in hugs. Happy and playful giggles from the Watterson kids grow loud throughout the halls, and Penny still stares lovingly at Gumball. Gumball decides to exit the group hug to walk over and embrace his girlfriend tightly. Though slightly taken aback at the sudden hug, she returns it fondly.

A door creaking distracts Amethyst. She stops to look at the barely open door. She looks back at the hall to hear some little voices that also catch her attention, but now her curiosity is pointed towards the door. She decides to look through the door first, then she can see what's going on behind the left wall. She curiously pushes the door and puts a foot forward. Just a quick look—

There is no floor.

Her startled yelps echo throughout the whole building, far louder than anything else. Everyone stops dead silent. The chats between friends regarding the place and creatures, stopped. The siblings and girlfriend reunion, interrupted. The Crystal Gems' search for Amethyst, frantic. Lion's ears and eyes, perked and wide.

Everyone is almost hypnotically drawn to the doors. They soundlessly travel down the vast halls, searching each one they can find.

They open them. They see an empty concrete abyss where the rooms used to be, lightened by the skylight.

Steven and the Crystal Gems stare at Amethyst clinging precariously to the doorknobs, also silent, saved for some anxious panting. They all stare at the vast chasm below.

All senses are numb.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hope the addition of Regular Show characters won't deter your enjoyment of this fic. Stay tuned.**

**~Elcee**


	4. Chapter 4: Entrance

**A/N: Happy Valentine's Day**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Entrance<strong>

What follows after Amethyst is able to climb back to the hall is a period of dumbstruck silence among every sentient being in the tower. All the unfamiliarity, and all the disturbed revulsion, drains them of any capability to form coherent thoughts. They can no longer tell the time, they can no longer read or write, they can no longer think rationally and patiently, they can no longer even feel. What remains of their humanity is locked away in their unconscious, and they can only stand blankly, catatonic. They stare with seemingly normal eyes at what they find familiar, reveling their static consciousness in what they already know, not daring to look away into the unknown.

In their catatonic state, it is decided that the Crystal Gems have the most authority among all of them, by being the most powerful. Classic act of nature. None of them spoke, they simply turned to the Gems for some kind of guidance, hesitatingly averting their gaze from their familiar friends. The Gems turn back at them, and change expression for the first time, with that of far greater uncertainty than when Rose Quartz gave her life for her son.

Steven is the first to regain his consciousness and looks to the Gems with a disquieting understanding of what he believes they must do. The other Gems silently agree, despite not knowing what Steven has in mind. They begin to walk down the hall, their footsteps being the only sound, and the other creatures begin to trail behind them, still in their trance. Like shepherds, the Gems lead everyone else down the tower.

They silently head to the lobby, no longer heeding their portals nor their home universes. Even in their hollowed state, they simply want explanations. Steven, understanding this, studies the map further, and pets Lion's mane as he walks next to him. They exit the halls, and head down the lobby, past the hotel rooms, and walk downstairs to the first floor. Steven looks around the tattered lobby and the map, and points to the back of the building. The ballroom is where Steven decides that they need to go. They follow Steven and head their way towards the back of the tower. They look back to see the still disturbed faces from the other groups, mindlessly following them in search for answers.

Steven then opens the sturdy double doors with a loud creak and he allows everyone to step inside. The ballroom is the room that is the least ravaged of the entire tower. Though the checkerboard carpet is covered with dust, the red curtains are torn, and the wallpaper is slightly ripped, the fancy round tables are still intact, along with its silverware. A podium stands in the other side, the stereo system and microphones steadily prepared and intact. All the groups proceed to sit down on the tables closest to the podium, each table corresponding to their familiar groups.

Once they settle on their own table, all the Gems whisper to each other, listening to Steven's ideas. Lion lays down in the corner of the podium, waiting patiently for Steven. The others soon begin to wake up. The first thing some of them do after regaining consciousness is to create background noise, to ease any further tension. Mordecai taps the table with his feathered fingers, Rigby taps his own fingers with the wine glass. Anais inspects the contents of a glass, and Darwin looks curiously at the room while swinging his legs.

Gumball kneads his trousers until his claws pull the cloth. Penny looks at him and lets out a forlorn sigh. She reaches towards his shaky hand, and strokes his finger with her own. Warmed by her caring touch, he ever so slightly lifts his hand from his thigh, allowing more of Penny's fingers to intertwine with his. From there, their hands grasp tightly, ensuring protection and care. With no desires to let go, they embraced their small moment of peace.

Moments still pass as the groups wait to be told what to do about their situation. The Gems then finally whisper to each other, "alright" and they stand up from their table. They head towards the podium, and as everything had already been prepared, they don't need to do much. They stand in a horizontal line, with Lion in the corner, and with Steven up front and facing the microphone stand. The stand is too tall for him, so he gets on his tiptoes and removes the microphone from it, emitting a loud feedback that seemed to echo throughout the entire room. This catches the audience's attention, and they immediately face the podium. Steven clears his throat nervously as some stage fright kicks in.

"Uh…" Steven speaks over the microphone pressed too close to his face and its cable slightly bent. The loud feedback still lingers in a lower pitch, and the groups cringe. "…I just wanna let you guys know that…um…"

Pearl takes a moment to whisper to Steven to hold the microphone correctly and remind him of his own lines, slightly tugging the cable to straighten it, reducing the feedback.

"Oh! Thank you, Pearl," Steven quips to her. He turns back at the audience, trying to put on a happy voice. "Ah, as I was saying… I want all of us to understand each other better. What better way for us to get along than by introducing ourselves? We'll say our names and we'll tell a little about ourselves so everybody can know who you are! What do you say?"

Nobody responds. They look at each other, still lost and unsure. Gumball sighs, and looks at Steven in disbelief, embarrassed by his overly happy tone. "Dude, what is this? _Kindergarten_?"

Pearl suddenly recoils in horror. "WHAT?!" Amethyst lets out a very befuddled "Uh?!"

"NO!" Steven yells in assurance. "No, no it's not!" he laughs nervously. "I-i-i-it's… nothing like that…"

He stares awkwardly at Gumball, who proceeds to sink under the table in embarrassment and confusion, his siblings and girlfriend stare at him in second-hand embarrassment.

In spite of everything, Amethyst can't help but chortle. "Ha, ha, haw, jeeeez!"

Steven clears his throat. "Moving on… We'll start by introducing ourselves!" he says in confidence as he hands the microphone to Garnet.

"We are the Crystal Gems," she states clearly. "We dedicate ourselves to defend our planet from otherworldy threats." She prepares a roll-call.

"Garnet." She tosses the microphone to Amethyst, who proceeds to grin boastfully.

"Amethyst." She tosses the microphone to Pearl, who barely catches it, leaving her to quickly compose herself.

"Pearl." Steven quickly grabs the microphone.

"And STEVEN!"

Again, nobody responds, or seems to know how to respond. Their expressions change from that of silent confusion to that of curiosity and slight amazement. They admired the Crystal Gems in a natural manner, subconsciously feeling safe in their presence, understanding why they chose them as leaders in their blank states. Pops begins to clap. "Good show, jolly good show!" The Gems pay little mind to it.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to us!" Steven affirms. "Alright, now I want everybody to introduce themselves. Step up here and tell us a little bit about yourself! You can choose someone to represent your group, you can go up one by one, or you can all step up here together! You can even get a chance to get up close to the Crystal Gems!"

The Crystal Gems reel back in bewilderment. "He must be copying some kind of advertisement…" Pearl whispers.

"Pffft," Amethyst responds. "Probably."

"Let's see…" Steven says. "Who wants to go first? C'mon, don't be shy!"

Penny smiles, and ushers Gumball from under the table. "C'mon, Gumball, go ahead! It's going to be alright." she encourages him.

Gumball lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine…" He probably wasn't going home anytime soon, so he might as well go ahead. He crawls away from the table and walks up to the podium, dusting himself off. Lion's ears twitch and he stands up. He walks over to Gumball and starts sniffing him. Gumball flinches.

"Don't worry! He won't bite!" Steven assures, then points to the other Crystal Gems. "They won't bite either."

On cue, Amethyst bares her teeth and snaps her mouth shut, growling as she does. Gumball doesn't find that very funny, but Amethyst continues to smirk teasingly. As Gumball walks towards Steven to grab the microphone, Pearl attempts to study his strange form, periodically looking at him and Garnet. Garnet shrugs at her, not being able to provide an explanation as to what she's looking at.

Gumball attempts to wipe the microphone's head with his sweater, recalling how close Steven's mouth was pressed into it before. "Alright, man," Gumball speaks over the microphone. "My name's Gumball. I… don't really have any extraordinary qualities, let alone have superpowers, but most of the time I just try to do my own thing." He points to his table and raises his tone. "That _beautiful_ fish over there with the honor of being my best friend and brother, is Darwin!"

"YAY!" Darwin accepts the compliment with absolute glee and stands from his seat. Gumball laughs happily, and Steven can't help but smile compassionately. Despite being a huge fish with legs, almost everybody in the room find themselves captivated by Darwin's charm, and the Gems, especially Pearl, observe with interest rather than bewilderment.

"Next up is," Gumball continues. "Anais, my sister. She's the smartest one, and we… butt heads sometimes, but she's pretty cool."

Anais gives everyone a look of pride. Unsure what to think of her, however, the others start to give her a thumbs-up with small smiles. Pearl begins to wonder about Anais's claimed title as the smartest. Perhaps she could try to talk to her afterwards.

Gumball then puts on a romantic expression. "And that's my _girlfriend_," Gumball makes sure to accentuate the word. "Penny. Now SHE'S extraordinary!"

Penny blushes at his compliment, then sees what the others think of her. Everyone stares astonishingly at her bright form, amazed at her radiance and shine. Penny is left feeling extremely bashful, and shape-shifts into a small, red-pink chipmunk covering her eyes with her paws. Everyone stares in awe at her powers, and the Crystal Gems feel as if they are looking at something conspicuously Gem-like, much to their fascination.

Gumball looks at Penny lovingly for a few seconds. "Well," he says. "Guess that's everyone there. So now you know, and you're happy! Now you don't have to get weirded out by us, but then you'll find out even _weirder_ things about us! I _could_ tell you where Darwin came from, but that's another story."

He laughs at his audience, who chuckle back at him. Then Gumball swiftly turns around to the Crystal Gems scornfully. Pearl stares at him disconcertingly, while Steven's eyes open wide. Amethyst puffs in amusement, knowing fully what Gumball means.

"Any _other_ words I should be watching out for?" He demands rudely. None of the Gems answer. Gumball rolls his eyes and starts walking off the podium, giving the microphone to Steven, then pats him in his shoulder before leaving to his table, letting Steven know he's still on good terms with the half-Gem.

"Alright, thanks for stepping up!" Steven tells him, but Gumball doesn't change his expression as he sits down again. Penny, shifted back to her fairy form, holds his hand affectionately again, Darwin congratulates him and thanks him for the compliments, and Anais gives him a thumbs up. Gumball then smiles again.

Steven speaks through the microphone again. "Who else wants to go?" He points towards Mordecai's table. "How 'bout you guys? You're next!"

Mordecai and the others start muttering to each other quickly. Mordecai stands from his seat. "Alright, we're going up," he says. As he begins to exit his table to walk to the podium, he is soon followed by Rigby and Pops, then Skips, deciding to be introduced all at once. Lion gets up again and begins to approach them to sniff them, seizing the opportunity to properly "greet" them.

"How majestic!" Pops praises.

"And tame." Skips comments intriguingly.

Mordecai and Rigby, based on their experiences with bizzare beasts, are incredibly nervous. When Lion approaches to sniff them, they tense up, and remain stiff. Lion sniffs Mordecai, who begins to shudder and sweat, no longer being as "cool" with Lion as he was when Lion wasn't so close. Then Lion sees Rigby, and assumes a pouncing position. Rigby gulps loudly.

Steven immediately notices this. "Lion!" he calls frantically and runs to his pet. Lion looks at Steven and sits calmly as Steven starts to pet his mane. Steven turns to the nervous, shuddering Rigby. "Huh, huh! Sorry! He… probably saw you as a toy."

Rigby goes from nervous to irrationally furious. "A toy?" he shrieks accusingly.

Mordecai puts a hand on his buddy's shoulder, addressing Steven. "Let's not set him off," Mordecai warns gently, with a hint of playfulness in his tone. He grabs the microphone that Steven hands to him and walks over to put it back on the stand, the others moving into position.

Steven looks to the Gems and silently asks for their opinion of these creatures. Pearl has a somewhat disgusted yet confused feelings of them, questioning herself how a bird is able to use its wings like that and the anatomical repercussions of an over-sized head, but Amethyst is signaling something to him. She points to Pearl and Mordecai, then her own face, draws a big triangle over her nose with her finger, and emits a small squawking sound. Steven giggles under his breath while Pearl looks at a grinning Amethyst suspiciously.

Mordecai clears his throat. "Hey, there… kids." Mordecai suddenly loses some confidence, noticing there is no longer a single adult in the audience. He finds himself wondering why. He also finds himself wondering if he has to take up babysitting.

"Uh…" he continues. "Okay, so I'm Mordecai. I work at a city park. But I like to uh…" he gestures towards Gumball. "What he said, I like to do my own thing too. But I like really old stuff that maybe only your parents know about, so I don't really know how to…" he makes circling gestures with his wings. "…relate, I guess."

The kids stare blankly at him, unsure what to say. The Gems are clueless.

"Gimme that!" Rigby shouts as he jumps up to retrieve the microphone from Mordecai's hands. "Yeah, don't listen to him, he's too boring for you. Come hang out with me instead, Rigby! The coolest dude eva!"

Now the kids cringe and turn away, whispering some opinions of disdain and indifference. Pearl also cringes. Skips notices this and casually takes the microphone from Rigby and gives it to Pops.

"Now, now, children," Pops chirps. "I understand that some of us are not very good role models, but I would also like to get along with everybody! I am Pops, and would love to play games with you all."

Now the kids are just embarrassed, and look at the whole group with irritated boredom, though they didn't want to look rude. Skips turns around to look at the similarly unimpressed Crystal Gems, and Amethyst quickly gives him a troubled throat slashing gesture.

He promptly takes the microphone. "Given the circumstances, I suppose I'll be the one doing the introductions," Skips explains. "I'm Skips, and I'm in charge of fixing problems most of the time. This is Pops, and he's the one who brings some morality to our group." Pops giggles. Skips takes a long breath before pointing to Mordecai and Rigby. "These are Mordecai and Rigby. They're best friends, and they don't really like to work a lot. They mostly do a lot of goofing off."

"Oh, yeah." Mordecai remembers, taking the microphone. He announces into the microphone with more confidence. "We just like to party and have fun. You can joins us in our jams if you like."

The kids become calmer and more casual. Maybe it won't be so awkward later. "Okay," Gumball says.

Mordecai sighs in relief, and silently thanks Skips as he gives the microphone back to Steven. As the group exits the podium, Mordecai and Rigby argue with each other in whispers, exchanging insults somewhere along the lines of a alien kitten being a better stand-up comedian than the other. Steven is hopeful that he'll get along better with them, but Pearl remains displeased of the two animal creatures. Amethyst is intrigued and interested. "Yeah…" she says. "I think these guys know what I'm talking about!"

Pearl scoffs. She looks to the audience and she finds them with all eyes on the Gems, expecting something else. She bends down next to Steven. "Alright, Steven what's next?" she asks him kindly, intending for him to answer to the audience.

"Now," Steven says through the microphone. "We just gotta find something that we can all agree on, so we can get along better! I'll start with a question: what does everybody think of this place?"

On cue, a chorus of disgusted complains fill the room. Some comments consist of how much the place stinks, how disorganized and chaotic it is, and how just plain creepy its state of disrepair is. Some of them feel angry, others annoyed, and others are simply disconcerted and uncomfortable.

"They don't like it," Garnet says.

"Well, then. That's something…" Steven remarks. "ATTENTION!" He shouts into the microphone. The room is quiet once more.

"Since we all agree that this place isn't exactly… pleasant, at the moment," he announces. "I propose that we all work together to restore this building! We wouldn't want to stay at a place like this, we have to make it better, right?"

Everyone looks at Steven doubtfully, before turning to each other and whispering sternly. The Crystal Gems stare at each other in slight concern. After a minute, Skips directs turns away from his group and addresses Steven.

"Do you want us to stay here?" he asks.

"Well, kind of…" Steven confesses and lowers his head. He knows nobody likes this place, especially not Gumball, who's been wanting to get out for a long time now. He remains silent, until an idea pops in his mind. "I mean…" he lifts his head, his eyes go bright, and asks solemnly. "How did we come here in the first place?"

No answer. They stare at Steven. Then they turn to each other in thought. They turn their heads and move their eyes to look at the ballroom, at the curtains, at the checkerboard carpet. At the cloudy sky outside. Steven watches the Crystal Gems follow suit.

"We came here because we were curious about this place," Steven answers himself. "We've all been wondering what was in the other side of the portal. We all wanted to see what was going on here. We got scared, we got confused, but really, once you take your time to get to know things… it becomes that more fascinating, right?"

As he spoke, the others stare somberly. They know they are curious, and they know that they want to find out more. Though they were scared before, and are still nervous or uncertain, they know that deep down, they wanted to see more.

"What do you say?" Steven turns to the Gems, then back at the audience. Though he addresses the audience, he looks at Gumball's direction. "Do you want to stay, for a while?"

Gumball ponders hesitantly. He knows Steven's statement isn't just directed at the audience in general. They've hung out long enough for him to know what Steven wants since the beginning, despite being against it. True, he _was_ curious of the tower at first, but after staying at a desolate place all alone for a long period of time without any other means to get back home, he began to get stressed. The solitude and the sheer unfamiliarity almost drove him mad, and he remembers having a desperate breakdown shortly before Steven entered.

But Darwin, Anais, and Penny are with him now. Maybe this won't be so bad now. Maybe, with them around, he can give the place and all the other creatures another chance. He looks at them, and they all look at him. Gumball shifts his gaze back to Steven once more, in an expression of certainty.

"We're in," Gumball says with confidence. Steven's pupils begin to shine stars.

"Oh, then, we're in, too," Mordecai says casually. "We wanna see what's up with this crazy place."

"We'll stand by your side, Steven," Garnet states, rubbing his head, and the other Crystal Gems give him an approving glance. The stars in his eyes grow bigger. The audience awaits eagerly.

Steven shouts his loudest into the microphone. "Here's the plan, everyone. We're gonna explore this tower, and we're gonna fix this tower with _whatever_ we can find! Then we can go explore some more! YEAH! LET'S GO HAVE FUN!"

Whoops and cheers erupt in that corner of the ballroom. High fives are shared between friends and hugs between loved ones. Gumball and Darwin deliver a whoop toward Steven, and Steven whoops back. They all happily get off their tables and begin to exit the ballroom with excitement in their minds, to carry out their plan. All the numb and catatonic fear that was felt before they entered the ballroom doors fade away when they exit, and now curiosity reigns in their collective consciousness, ready to combat their uncertainty.

The Crystal Gems and the employees walk fast towards the hall next to the ballroom in search for tools, while Steven, Lion, and the other the kids dart forward to the entrance of the lobby, to take a look at the strange world below. They will not venture outside the tower, but they decide that they want to catch a small glimpse of the world they're residing in. They run, they scamper, and one of them flies. They don't care about the tower's damage, knowing well that it will not stay damaged for long. Some playful giggles are shared between them.

They stop in front of the shattered entrance, staring at the green field beneath the gray skies.


End file.
